In industrial settings wireless communication is of growing importance. The application of wireless communication has led to an increased diversity and increased rate of development of wireless solutions. In particular, standards and communication protocols are continually changing and developing. This high rate of change presents a challenge in process automation and control technology because the installed basis of field devices, which are installed to monitor and control processes, must continually be updated and/or replaced in order to conform to the latest developments in wireless communication technology.
In automation technology, especially in process automation technology, field devices serving to register and/or influence process variables are often applied. For registering process variables, sensors, which are integrated, for example, in fill level measuring devices, flow measuring devices, pressure and temperature measuring devices, pH and redox potential measuring devices, conductivity measuring devices, etc., serve to register the corresponding process variables fill level, flow, pressure, temperature, pH value, or conductivity. Actuators serve for influencing process variables; such actuators can be, for example, valves or pumps, via which the flow of a liquid in a pipeline section or the fill level in a container can be changed. In principle, all devices, which are applied near to the process and deliver, or process, process relevant information, are referred to as field devices. In connection with the invention, remote I/Os, wireless adapters, or, generally, electronic components, which are arranged on the field level, are understood to be field devices. Many such field devices are available from the Endress+Hauser group of companies.
For various reasons, completely replacing or updating the hardware and/or software of an installed basis of field devices is not always possible and generally involves a large cost.
In the US patent U.S. Pat. No. 6,937,615 B1, a solution is presented in which a so-called ‘dual stack’ system is described. Here, a dual purpose bridge for wireless communication allows both a low frequency wireless communication standard and a high frequency communication standard to operate for a particular wireless communications device. However, this solution also requires the development and implementation of additional hardware depending on the application and reduces power consumption only by using the low frequency and less complex standard with a lower bit rate.